


Christmas Lights in Houston

by Belega



Series: First Times [4]
Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Back on the Cheesy Train, Cheesy, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Psychological Trauma, Recovery, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belega/pseuds/Belega
Summary: Mark and Mindy spend their first Christmas together.In this story, several months have passed after "We've Only Just Begun" and "Romance at Mission Control", but this particular short also works on its own.
Relationships: Mindy Park & Mark Watney, Mindy Park/Mark Watney, Parkney - Relationship
Series: First Times [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1334725
Comments: 5
Kudos: 83





	Christmas Lights in Houston

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in months, and then suddenly this happens? 
> 
> There's months between We've only just begun and this, and obviously a lot of things happen in between, and I'm going to write about that stuff. But obviously I had to post this glimpse into the future at Christmas. Obviously.

It didn’t really feel like Christmas without snow, thought Mark as he stared into the almost dark yard through the window. The landscape didn’t look any different to any other season, besides the Christmas lights decorating porches and windows and the occasional tree. He’d lived in Houston for years and years, but now was probably the first time that he stopped to look at the lights.

Previous years, he’d been either neck deep in training to be considered for Ares III, and after he’d been selected, he’d been neck deep in prepping for the mission. And last year, well… It had been almost exactly a year since Mark had returned to Earth’s hemisphere, and Christmas had been the last thing on his mind then. To be honest, that time was a bit of haze with his health being what it’d been, combined with the media attention, and Mark preferred to keep it that way.

But now, as he had time to slow down and look at the landscape, he realized that he really missed snow. Without it, Christmas looked quite different to what he’d been used to growing up in Chicago.

Delicate hands wrapped around his torso in a warm embrace, and he felt Mindy’s cheek press against his back. Her voice sounded muffled against his sweater. “Why are you brooding over here all by yourself?”

“I’m not brooding”, Mark replied easily as he turned around and wrapped Mindy in his arms. “I am looking pensively at Christmas lights. A totally different thing.”

She was smiling at him, her hair in her signature messy bun, which made her giant, green Christmas tree earrings and their blinking lights all the more visible. They’d been an early Christmas present from Mark, meant as a joke, but as Mark had handed them to her with a dopey grin that said, “Ha, ha, you’ll look ridiculous”, Mindy’s sweet smile never wavered as she simply put them on and thanked him, and she had ended up wearing them to dinner at Mark’s parents’ house. They’d been back at Mindy’s place for hours now, but she was still wearing them, although she had switched to her home sweatpants hours ago. Mark was starting to wonder if he was an unknowing participant to a bet.

It was one of the things Mark loved about their relationship. Mindy made Mark more responsible and made him think about his actions beforehand (at least most of the time), and Mark made Mindy more open to embrace her playful, mischievous side and allowed her to ease up and enjoy life a bit more. 

Mindy shook her head slightly. “Whatever, just stop and help me choose a Christmas movie.”

Mark allowed Mindy to drag him by his hand over to the couch. “Did you decide on a streaming service yet, at least?” asked Mark as he sank into the softness of the couch next to her. “Out of the gazillion ones that there are now.”

“Gazillion isn’t a number”, Mindy replied distractedly as she flicked through titles, probably not even aware that she was correcting him. “Yes, we’re going with Netflix.”

“A bit old school, don’t you think?”

Mindy snorted, and turned to give him a glare, but its effect was greatly diminished by the swinging of her earrings. “You’re old school, Mark ‘I still insist that Die Hard is a Christmas movie and I watch it every year’ Watney.”

“It is so a Christmas movie!”

“We’re not going through this again.”

Mark threw his hands up in surrender. “Okay, not the time, but you brought it up. Let’s try to pick one, then. Do you want an actual movie or something goofy?”

A thoughtful expression crossed over Mindy’s face, and she answered, “Goofy, don’t you think?” At Mark’s agreeing nod, she rose to her feet with a grunt and handed him the remote. “You can start browsing, I’m gonna grab us some refreshments.”

Mark began browsing through the collection that mostly consisted of Netflix's own productions now, which suited their purposes perfectly. Mindy had just poured some Christmas candy into a bowl and had gotten glasses out, when Mark piped up with a suggestion, “The Christmas Prince?”

“Ooh, yes. We can make it a drinking game!”

Mark leaned into the back of the couch contently. “Good idea. But which one? Should we go with the worst one?”

Mindy came over with the candy bowl in one hand, while she balanced a bottle of wine and two wine glasses in the other. Mark hastily reached over to help her. She inclined her head in thanks as she began to pour the wine. “Sure. So sixth, right?”

Mark gave her a dubious glance. “You serious? The fifth one is definitely the worst!”

Finished with the wine, Mindy handed Mark his half-full glass. “Nuh-uh! The parent-teacher conference is in the sixth one, don’t you remember? Where Amber realized that the teacher was her old flame?”

Mark was nodding, picturing the scene in his head. He grimaced at the image. “I remember it vividly, but that’s in the fifth movie.”

Mindy paused. “Oh, it is? Well, then the fifth one is definitely the worst.”

The issue settled, Mark threw his arm around Mindy, and she snuggled into place. Mark pressed play, and they started to movie. They gave appreciative whoops and shouts at the appropriate times when they were supposed to drink, among which were the ridiculous close ups of each member of the main cast every five minutes when a predictable plot twist occurred.

Their glasses emptied quite quickly during the course of the game, and their whoops and groans of disbelief grew louder as it progressed. They were still chuckling as the credits began to roll and all was once again well in Aldvia. At this point, the wine had loosened Mark’s tongue enough that he finally relented and asked, “Are you ever going to take those earrings off?”

“I was wondering when you’d ask”, Mindy said, giggling as he shook her head slightly to make the dangling earrings sway. The colored lights shone on the walls in the darkness of the room. “You’re the one who gave them to me, don’t you like them?” she asked innocently.

“Yeah, I liked them in the store just fine”, Mark replied, giving the left earring a light tug. “But the lights are beginning to hurt my eyes.”

Mindy sucked in a breath, pretending to feel sympathy for him. “Oh, that’s a shame. Guess you acted without thinking, huh?”

Mark huffed a laugh. “So that how we’re playing it, Miss Park?”

Mindy gave an innocent shrug and took a swig out of her almost empty wine glass. Mark simply looked at her, smiling, when an idea struck him, and his expression turned coy. Mindy seemed to know that he was up to something, as she put down her glass and watched him, waiting.

Aware that he had her full attention, Mark shuffled even closer to Mindy on the couch, and then he leaned in close, so close that their noses were almost touching. Without breaking eye contact, he placed one hand on her arm, and with the other hand he began to play with the strap of her top, while Mindy’s breathing started to quicken. Mark let go of the strap and let it fall out of place. “How about we compromise, huh? I won’t ask you to take them off if…”

“If what?” asked Mindy a bit breathlessly. 

“If…” Mark leaned in to whisper in her ear, knowing that his breath would tickle her neck. “...they are the only thing you’re wearing.”

Now Mark got what he was hoping for. There weren’t many things he loved more than the times he managed to get Mindy all flustered. Sure enough, Mindy’s heartbeat quickened considerably, and there was a pause before she managed to stammer out, “T- that does seem, uh… a-acceptable.”

“Yeah?” Mark asked, as he began to kiss slowly kiss her neck, making her sigh in contentment. He moved his hand further up her arm, starting to run his fingers lightly over her skin, giving her goosebumps. Mindy shivered slightly, and she bit her lip.

“Y-yeah”, replied Mindy, still breathless. “You want to, um… close the deal right now?”

Mark pulled away far enough to be able to look her in the eyes and to see the slight flush to her cheeks. He gave her a chaste, slow kiss on her lips that she returned, before saying seriously, “I think that would be acceptable.”

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this story from a random thought that the fifteenth instalment (the number doesn't matter) in the "A Christmas Prince" film series could be "A Christmas Prince: Royal Retirement Home".


End file.
